Stuart Russell Testifies in Musk vs. OpenAI Trial on AI Development

Stuart Russell, a University of California, Berkeley computer science professor who has studied AI for decades, testified at the trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI. He told jurors and Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers that a variety of risks come with AI development, ranging from cybersecurity threats to problems with misalignment and the winner-take-all nature of developing artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Russell stated that there was a tension between the pursuit of AGI and safety.

Objections from OpenAI’s attorneys led Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to limit Russell’s testimony. During cross-examination, OpenAI’s attorneys established that Russell was not directly evaluating the organization’s corporate structure or its specific safety policies. Russell has long been a critic of the arms-race dynamic in AI, though those broader concerns did not fully air in court.

In March 2023, Russell signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause in AI research. Elon Musk also signed the same open letter. Even as he signed it, Musk launched xAI, his own for-profit AI lab.

The testimony unfolds amid wider debates on AI regulation. Senator Bernie Sanders pushed for a law imposing a moratorium on data center construction, echoing concerns about AI's rapid growth. Hodan Omaar, who works at the Center for Data Innovation, told TechCrunch that it is unclear why the public should discount everything tech billionaires say except when their words can be recruited to fill gaps in a precarious argument.

Meanwhile, TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is scheduled for October 13-15, 2026, in San Francisco, CA, where AI topics may draw further discussion among founders, investors, and tech leaders.